Departure
by GreatMountainTengu
Summary: All good things must come to an end, and so it is with the life of Riley Andersen. After Disgust leaves, Anger decides to follow suit, but what will it mean for Fear? Oneshot. Hinted RawBrickOli.


**DISCLAIMER: I don't own the characters or the film. I'm not making any profit from this.**

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As Joy had told them over and over again, it had been a good life. A great one. None of them could deny that. A steady job. Plenty of friends. A husband. Children. Grandchildren. A good balance of all five emotions. Indeed, it had been a good life for Riley Andersen. But all good things must come to an end.

She was eighty-three, or so everybody had agreed on. Both she and her emotions had lost count long ago. And with age, her console had begun having breakdowns. It didn't work as quickly or efficiently as it used to. Sometimes, whenever an emotion tried to work it, it stopped responding altogether. It simply couldn't keep up with the techniques and nuances of all five emotions anymore. At first, none of them knew what it meant. But it was Sadness and her Mind Manuals who eventually found out the truth. According to the manual, when the console began acting the way theirs was, it meant that the host was approaching the end of their life.

Nobody, not even Joy, took it well, but Fear was the first one to make Riley react. She didn't want to die. Like many, she was scared of the unknown. She was scared of what would happen once she left - not only to her, but to those she would leave behind. With that, Anger took control next. How could she just leave everything she had worked for, everything she had earned, everybody who was so important to her? How could she just leave all of that behind? It wasn't _fair_. Once the anger had subsided, the annoyance and cynicism of Disgust came next. Riley had to make sure that everything was in order once she was gone, but this was slow and difficult. If only something could be done about it. But nothing could. That's when Sadness came in, and Riley wept for her dear husband, her family, her friends, everybody who would never see her again. Visits by them were full of tears, apologies, and best-of-wishes. Being surrounded by such love eventually led Joy to take joint control with Sadness. Riley had become resigned to her fate, spending most of her moments in a state of wistful melancholy, and always made sure that her loved ones were comforted.

But the worst of the news had yet to come.

Sadness, of course, had been the one to find it out. The darkest secret of the console. It should have been obvious, but everybody was so preoccupied that none of them had even thought about it. The console was becoming less and less responsive with each passing day. Sadness was crying so hard, she couldn't even speak intelligibly. She just pointed to the words in the manual, the grim words that would change them all: "Emotions must not remain in Headquarters until the host reaches termination. In order to achieve an orderly and uneventful shutdown, emotions must make their departures one by one."

That had done it. Just like that, it was complete chaos all over again. Fear flew into a panic, Anger spit and screamed, Disgust ranted and raved. Joy couldn't do anything. For once, she was at a total loss. How could any of them just go? The five of them had literally been together since day one. How could they just throw all that away?

It had taken some time for her to come to terms with it, but Disgust had realized that the console had given up responding to her. It was time for her to leave. She hated it with every particle of her being, but it had to be done. She packed everything she had, organized it neatly in her green wheeled suitcase, and told everybody that she was leaving. Joy and Sadness did everything in their power to convince her otherwise, and when that didn't work, Anger and Fear did everything in theirs. Their pleas were heartbreaking to see, especially for Disgust, who loved them both very much. But she wouldn't be dissuaded. She said goodbye to them all, and the memory tube sucked her away.

Anger, of course, had had a tremendous fit. And when he was finally able to accept Disgust's departure, he'd turned to raging about how he, too, would soon have to leave. But after a day or two, he'd become silent. He said nothing to anybody. He seldom even approached the console. And tonight, even after Riley and the others had gone to sleep, Anger had got up one last time to pack his bags and leave. He didn't bother to notify the others. Why hurt them? No, it would be much easier this way. Noiselessly, he had dragged his bags into the console room, stacked them one on top of the other, and called down the memory tube. He would have gone through with it right away, but something held him back. He thought back to when Disgust had said goodbye. How he wished he could have just hugged her right there, told her how dumb she was for leaving, told her how much she meant to both him and Fear. But his stupid pride had forbade him, and now all he could do was do what she had done mere days ago. Anger sighed in resignation. Taking one last look through the window, he muttered, "So long, Riley." and turned back to the tube. He accidentally bumped into one of his suitcases, which fell to the floor with a loud crash. Angry with the noise it made, he swore, almost as loudly as the bag had come down. Now somebody was bound to be awake. And with any luck, he knew exactly who.

"Anger?"

It was a soft, timid voice, but its sheer suddenness cut through the night silence like a knife. Recognizing the voice, Anger let out a groan.

"Well, if it isn't Calamity James," he quipped, turning to face Fear, who was standing in the doorway. "Did I wake you up?"

Fear shook his head. "No, no, I was just getting up to see what all the noise was," he said. His gaze drifted toward the memory tube in the middle of the room. "What's that?"

"My ticket outta here," Anger said, just as calmly as if he were taking out the trash.

Fear's eyes widened. "What?!"

"You heard me," Anger replied calmly.

Fear streaked across the room. "You mean, you're _leaving?!_ "

Anger picked his suitcase up off the floor. "Bin-go."

"...Why?" was all Fear could get out.

Anger set his suitcase down again with a frustrated sigh. It was clear that he would have to explain the situation. "Don't pretend like you ain't noticed what's been going on. Less and less red memories keep coming in. Half the curse word library is out of commission 'cause people just don't use 'em anymore. And whenever I try to work the console these days, it short-circuits on me. Now, I'm no detective, but I think it's pretty clear that Riley doesn't need me anymore."

Fear couldn't believe what he was hearing. He began shaking his head slowly. "You've got to be kidding. First Disgust, and now you?!"

Anger shrugged. "It's gotta happen to all of us, ya know." He was right. Riley wasn't going to last forever, and as a result, neither were they. "And let's be honest; at this rate, you'll be the next one to go."

The purple emotion clapped his hands over his temples and started rocking his head as though to clear it of the notion. "No! No!" He grabbed Anger by the arm.

"Let go!" he snarled, trying to free himself. But Fear did not loosen his grip. Though he greatly feared Anger's rage, what scared him above all else was what would happen if he let him go.

"Anger, listen to me! You can't leave, and neither can I!"

The short red emotion finally managed to wrest himself from his colleague's surprisingly strong grasp. "Let me guess: you're _afraid,_ " he said cruelly.

"Of course I'm afraid!" Fear cried, his entire body fairly trembling with his namesake. "Headquarters is the only place for me! It's the only place I've ever lived! I don't want to leave!"

"Oh, and you think _I_ was all smiles when I found out it was _my_ turn to go?!" Anger flung back. His shouting may have awoken Joy and Sadness, but he didn't care. "Well, I'll tell you something: I wasn't! Nothing about this is fair to me, or to you guys, for that matter. But it _is_ fair to Riley! She doesn't need me."

"Anger..." Fear mumbled.

"Besides," he went on, "I'm sure _Joy_ can pick up the slack once I'm gone." He turned as he made ready to leave once and for good.

Maybe it was what he said, maybe it was the rueful way he said it, but something made Fear's mind leap. "Is that why you're mad?" he asked, his voice desperate. "Is it Joy? Look, it'll be okay! We can still make this work...I can talk to her!"

Anger spun around. "Nobody's gonna talk to anybody about anything! I'm leaving, and that's all there is to it!"

Fear grabbed onto him again. "Please!" he begged as Anger struggled against him. "Don't do this to me! You and Disgust are my best friends! You mean everything to me!" His face was soaked with tears by now as his voice began cracking. " _Why are you leaving?!_ "

Anger stopped moving. "You just don't get it, do you? Disgust left because there was no room left for her. Just like there's no room left for me, either. I've done all I can do. There's nothing left for me _to_ do. I did a good job, but now it's time to clean out my desk. Riley just doesn't need me. I'm not mad about that. I'm not mad about anything anymore. And that's exactly why I've gotta leave."

Fear relaxed his grip. His friend's words sounded resigned, even contented. But as soon as Anger was out of reach, he became instantly aware of something else. "Anger, wait! You don't know what'll happen to you!"

The red emotion grabbed his bags. "Well, unlike _some_ people, I'm willing to take that risk." As the tube started descending, he smiled at Fear. "And until you're ready to do the same, me and Disgust'll be waiting."

The merciless tube closed around his bricklike form. Panicked, Fear pressed his hands against it, unwilling to let it carry out its only function. He only stopped his frantic breathing just long enough to hear Anger's last words to him: "See ya 'round, _coward._ "

There was a whoosh of the tube, and he was gone.

Forever.

Fear dropped to his knees as the tube retreated back into the ceiling. Now Anger was gone, just like Disgust. And he couldn't stop either of them. Now they were somewhere far away, where the only way Fear could reach them was by following suit. But he couldn't bring himself to. He was much too scared of what lay ahead. All the same, he knew he had to join them eventually. And then Sadness and Joy, and then Riley would close her eyes, as well.

Forever.

He didn't want that. He didn't want any more separations. He didn't want to try braving the unknown. Why couldn't things stay the same? Why couldn't they go back to the time when all five of them were together, helping Riley as a team, instead of being left to fend for themselves or having to leave altogether?

The side of his face hit the floor. His arms bound his legs to his body. There he lay, trembling, as frightening thoughts flew through his head. Squeezing his eyes shut, he let out a horrified scream, the like of which he had never done in his life. Would Disgust and Anger hear him? How could he know? Where were they?

"What was that noise?" That was Joy's voice, accompanied by her lightfooted running. Closely following were Sadness's slow, sulky footsteps.

"I heard a noise," the blue emotion mumbled. "Is anything wrong?"

They both caught sight of their fellow emotion, bound up by his own arms, still shaking, tears trickling down his face. Horrified, Joy drew in a sharp breath. Sadness ran up to the crouching mess that was Fear and put her hand on his shoulder. "What happened, Fear?" she barely managed to say. He made no response.

"Hang on," said Joy. "Where's Anger? I thought for sure he'd be up by now."

"He's...gone." Fear's terrified voice was hardly audible. "He's not coming back. Disgust...and he's gone too."

Joy knelt down beside him and Sadness, unbelieving of her own ears. "Anger... _left?_ "

Sadness's lip trembled. Her eyes welled up. "But...why? He didn't even say goodbye to us..."

"I tried...to stop him," Fear choked out. "Honest...I did. But...now he's gone. And he said...he said... _I'd_ be the next one to go." A violent shiver racked his body. "I don't want to leave...I _can't_ leave."

Just because it had happened before didn't make it any easier. In fact, now that there were less of them, it was just that much harder to accept the loss. Even Joy was blinking back tears.

Fear swallowed a sob and continued. "He said...he'd be waiting for me...with Disgust...how can he be so sure? They're both gone. I don't know where...I can't get to them...I don't know what's happened to them. I can't be with them anymore...and pretty soon, I'll be gone, too. ...What'll happen to us? Do we follow Riley? Do we end up in the Dump, like...like..." The forgotten name barely made its way to his lips. "Like Bing-Bong?"

All except for Sadness's quiet weeping, there was silence.

"Riley's...going to... _die,_ " Fear whispered, his skinny body shaking more than ever. "And I can't even protect her from it."

Crying profusely, Sadness wrapped her tiny arms around Fear, offering only what she could: sympathy mixed with her own sorrow.

Fear's words rushed through Joy's mind. It was true. Riley's life was coming to an end, and her emotions were leaving, one by one. Even Joy couldn't find anything to be optimistic about there. Her face fell into her hands, and she too lay against Sadness, letting out every last bit of bottled worry, uncertainty, hatred, and sorrow through her anguished sobs.

 **-END-**

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 **Thank you for reading! Please review!**


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